# 1780 British general election > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/1780_British_general_election > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/1780_British_general_election.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1780_British_general_election > Source revision: 1356708340 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Election in Great Britain This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) 1780 British general election ← 1774 6 September – 18 October 1780 (1780-09-06 – 1780-10-18) 1784 → ← outgoing members elected members → All 558 seats in the House of Commons 280 seats needed for a majority First party Second party Leader Lord North Henry Seymour Conway Party Northite Rockinghamite Leader's seat Banbury Thetford Seats won 260 254 Seat change 83 39 Composition of the House of Commons after the election Prime Minister before election Lord North Northite Prime Minister after election Lord North Northite The **1780 British general election** returned members to serve in the [House of Commons](/source/House_of_Commons_of_Great_Britain) of the 15th [Parliament of Great Britain](/source/Parliament_of_Great_Britain) to be summoned after the merger of the [Parliament of England](/source/Parliament_of_England) and the [Parliament of Scotland](/source/Parliament_of_Scotland) in 1707. The election was held during the [American War of Independence](/source/American_War_of_Independence) and returned [Lord North](/source/Frederick_North%2C_Lord_North) to form a new government with a small and rocky majority. The opposition consisted largely of the [Rockingham Whigs](/source/Rockingham_Whigs), the [Whig](/source/Whigs_(British_political_party)) faction led by the [Marquess of Rockingham](/source/Charles_Watson-Wentworth%2C_2nd_Marquess_of_Rockingham). North's opponents referred to his supporters as [Tories](/source/Tories_(British_political_party)), but no Tory party existed at the time and his supporters rejected the label. ## Summary of the constituencies See [1796 British general election](/source/1796_British_general_election) for details. The constituencies used were the same throughout the existence of the Parliament of Great Britain. ## Dates of election The general election was held between 6 September 1780 and 18 October 1780. At this period elections did not take place at the same time in every constituency. The returning officer in each county or [parliamentary borough](/source/Parliamentary_borough) fixed the precise date (see [hustings](/source/Hustings) for details of the conduct of the elections). ## Results ### Seats summary Parliamentary seats Northite 50.6% Rockinghamite 49.4% ## See also - [List of parliaments of Great Britain](/source/List_of_parliaments_of_Great_Britain) - [List of MPs elected in the British general election, 1780](/source/List_of_MPs_elected_in_the_British_general_election%2C_1780) ## References - *British Electoral Facts 1832–1999*, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate Publishing Ltd 2000). (For dates of elections before 1832, see the footnote to Table 5.02). - Namier, L. B., & Brooke, J. (1964). The House of Commons, 1754–1790. New York, Published for the History of Parliament Trust by Oxford University Press v t e Elections in Great Britain General elections 1708 1710 1713 1715 1722 1727 1734 1741 1747 1754 1761 1768 1774 1780 1784 1790 1796 → British elections (1800–present) This Great Britain election-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:GB-election-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AGB-election-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:GB-election-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [1780 British general election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1780_British_general_election) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1780_British_general_election?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.